Optimizing for Your Own Name in SERP- Ultimate Guide

Yay! I woke up this morning and addictively checked my rankings (and also all my client’s) [This is so wrong- it’s SATURDAY!]. Report brought me some great news! When typed “SEO Consultant London” I found my site jumped to 2nd position on both, Google.co.uk and .com. What a joy!:) At the same time, I seriously promised myself I am NOT GOING TO BE OBSESSIVE about that and if I drop in rankings it doesn’t mean I am a bad person:)

Today, I have a very narcissist subject to cover, namely ‘Optimizing for your own name in SERP‘. As an SEO Consultant, I really want to own all 10 listings on Google when someone types my name. Its a matter of pride:) Unfortunately, my name is quite popular in Poland, and surprisingly a few of them are quite famous – a painter, musician and also a famous doctor. My problem is also misspelling, very rarely English native speakers spell my name correctly so I had just given up and shortened it a bit and that’s how it became ‘Mags’, but lets get back to the subject….

So, say I would like to own all 10 listing in Google when someone types my name. There are a few websites, Google favours when searching for people’s profiles. If you optimise your profiles on those sites well and, additionally, build a few good links, pointing to those sites, you have huge chances to own that space! So let’s start…

LinkedIn – obviously the most popular professional business network, I joined in 2006, so I was lucky enough to get my full name in URL without any additional parameters (the URL is generated automatically so you do not have any control over it). I also link to that profile from a few other sites (like this blog for example).

About.me – this website getting on popularity and I am an absolute fan of it! It’s like your digital business card, a place where you can introduce yourself and list all services your profile can be found on. I personally, treat it as an index page of all my online properties (maybe not all, but at least those which I want others or potential clients to know about). The good thing about it is the fact that you can customise your URL, so you can use your keywords in URL. If you decide to use some keywords like ‘seo specialist’, it however lower your chances to rank high for your name, so some inbound links to that profile would be necessary to rank higher.

Google Profile– obviously! Just add your different name variations to the ‘Other names’ section (go to ‘edit your profile’ and this is the last field on that page.

Facebook – again, URL is pretty important, your name should definitely be within it, so even if the URL is taken add some additional parameters or keywords after your name so you can still rank. Without back-links to a different URL, you will not have chances to rank in Google for you name.

Ok, so we have now 4 services, 6 more to go…

Quora – it is a kind of network. It is more like a global forum where questions and answers are created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses that service. The most important thing is to have each question page become the best possible resource for someone who wants to know about the question. To join, you have to create your profile and if you are active enough and have linking to you followers, the profile will start ranking in Google for your own name,

FindYourPlus.com– the website is nothing more like a GooglePlus directory. I like the idea. It is in a beta version only now, but their claim to be already listing almost 6.5 milion Google Plus profiles, so just add your Google Profile’s number and you are in.

Your Own Blog– if you are a blog owner, you obviously want your website to be recognised and connected to you. If your web domain is different from your name, then it is necessary to build a few strong links to your homepage with your name as an anchor text. Blog comments are very helpful in this case, but do not spam! I am an active member of SEOmoz where I comment when it can add some value for other users. Those links are nofollow but it’s still pretty beneficial. I was also lucky enough (a little bragging here) that my name was mentioned in a few articles on Search Engine Land and SEJ as well as SE Roundtable and the authors linked from my name to my blog. My only advice, if you are active within your community, links will come naturally.

There are also a few other services which can help you to claim the space.

Twitter

PicasaWeb

My Space

eConsultancy- in UK only, personally, I am not a big fan, you have to pay to join